To Change The Story

April is coming on fast and Compassion International (along with numerous sponsors) will doing something special on April 21st: Compassion Sunday.

{Click on the above image to learn more about Compassion Sunday}

Compassion Sunday is a yearly event, drawing the attention of the Church to the needs of  poor children...And I, as a sponsor, am participating! I get to talk about my story of Compassion here on my blog and at my Church.

Check out my Compassion Sunday page!

If you have read any of my past assignment posts for Compassion, you may have learned bits and pieces of my Sponsorship story. But here's the whole story from beginning to end:

      For Christmas 2012, I received Alex and Brett Harris' book Start Here. Near the back of the book is 100 Hard Things, one of which said "Sponsored a child through Compassion International."
After reading those 100 hard things, I wanted to complete at least one of them. So I chose to sponsor a child (not knowing the money involved, or anything for that matter!).

On Compassion's website, I eagerly chose my preferences of gender, Where in The World, and age: Girl (I definitely wanted a girl!), somewhere in Asia, and ages 3-10 would do.
So many profiles came up before my eyes! Out of all of them, I figured a little girl from Bangladesh was the girl I would sponsor. Though, strangely enough, God had other plans in mind...The five year old girl in Bangladesh was sponsored by someone else before I even started talking with my parents about sponsorship! Disappointed at this (though also very happy that the girl was sponsored), I moved my preferences from Bangladesh to Peru. I found the profile of a nine year old Peruvian girl and this time, I thought long and hard if I would sponsor her. $38.00 was a lot for me to bring in every month ($456 a year!).
With my Mom's permission, I selected my girl. Only problem? I didn't count my money and I had less than I had thought. Nothing extra, I had little more than $38...And I wasn't very happy.
I wrote in my journal "Now I'm in a heap of money trouble. When I gave Mom the $38, I said it was worthless because I spent all my money on a girl for a whole year and I only have enough for one month."

It doesn't sound like I was really wanting to sponsor, does it? My Mom replied, "You mean you spent money...for a girl you don't even want?" Oh dear! But once I started working to bring in the necessary dollars to support my sponsored child, I soon realized it was a good choice. My first letter from her was exciting and I wrote one back soon after. She wrote me that she loved me, and I've never regretted my decision to sponsor her.

And that is how my life was changed by one girl in Peru, South America, one book, and an amazing ministry helping children in need.